“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. ” -Heraclitus
We interact with the world and it changes us. Every interaction and connection has a reciprocal function unto ourselves. If you push a ball it pushes back against you with an equal and opposite force, Newton’s 2nd Law. The world works the same way with experiences. Everytime you act to experience something new or profound it acts to change you. You are everchanging, just like the environment around you.
I take this lesson from the many diverse experiences I have had in my life. Growing up I held many odd jobs, from fast food to sales manager, I learned the value of money, and the difficulty producing it through traditional means. I became inspired through hours of boredom to create wealth independently. I started my own company. It was a dental supply business, with the business model of selling everything at cost till I claimed a market share then raising the prices in my territory. Wide-eyed and naive, I didn’t realize that brand quality was important to my clients. It failed devastatingly and I lost all the money I had made saving up over the years and jobs I had highschool. It was a definite blow to me and my abilities. This is because I was raised in a school system that says you have to get it right at first and that penalizes failure. My father prompted me to learn from my experience, consider the venture an expensive course into Entrepreneurship 101 and see how I could propel myself into starting a successful business. Weary of this new mindset, but determined that the only way to learn was to experience I tried again, this time with a transcription service business. It failed too. I focused so much on quality this time that I made the work impossible to turn a profit from. But it failed less, and I learned more. I tried and failed again 3 more times. On my 6th attempt, I went into the trucking & delivery business looking to learn and improve the industry – not to make money. This is when I started making money. This was a powerful shift in my own mindset. Today my business is still running, growing, and teaching me – and of course turning a profit. However, these interactions and experiences with the world around me pushed me to develop when I stepped into their territory of growth.
I have conquered much over my time, from being the youngest UBC Residence Coordinator, running a half marathon, to scoring in the top 5% globally for the MCAT. I could have just continued listing achievements on this page or I could have summed up the learnings I have taken from them. Every expereince teahes you, often through failure, and when it speaks, it is best to listen.